Wright-Hennepin awards $28,700 in scholarships to local students

Posted on May 25, 2011

Rockford, Minn. (May 25, 2011) — Twenty-one local students
received scholarships from Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association
(WH) this year, totaling $28,700. This 2011 contribution raised the amount the
cooperative has awarded to $518,000 since its scholarship program began in
1988.

WH
awarded the scholarships during a banquet at its headquarters in Rockford, Minn.
on May 19. The scholarships are funded through donations from WH’s diversified
non-electric businesses – WH Security, WH Services, HeatMyFloors.com, WH
Generation and WH International Response Center – under the umbrella of the WH
Holding Company. By using this funding method, WH’s education program is not
financed through members’ electric rates.

“The
value of a good education in today’s competitive world cannot be understated,”
said Mark Vogt, WH president and CEO. “We’re pleased to help get these young
men and women off to a solid start toward their educational goals.”

Tom
Mach, WH Holding Company board chair, echoed those sentiments. “You
will be impressed by what you hear from these students tonight,” Mach said. “You
will know that the world will be in good hands.”

WH Local Schools Scholarship

WH awards one scholarship
per school district in its service area to outstanding students pursuing higher
education.

The
following recipients were chosen to receive a Local Schools Scholarship:

Justine Bauer, Annandale High School

Samantha Kramer, Buffalo High School

Nicole Dallman, Dassel-Cokato High School

Shelby Streachek, Delano HS

Sabrina Kieser, Howard Lake-Waverly High School

Megan Johnston, Maple Grove High School

Ashley Hertwig, Maple Lake High School

Laura Hoberg, Monticello High School

Mackenzie Skatter, Orono High School

Justine Simon, Osseo Sr. High School

Brian Volkenant, Rockford High School

Benjamin Burney, Rogers High School

Elise Weber, St. Michael-Albertville Sr. High School

Alexander Phearman, Watertown-Mayer High School

Hannah Bergeson, Wayzata High School

Becca Sytsma, St. Cloud Technical High School –
at-large

Edward R. Slebiska Memorial Line Worker Scholarship

Line
workers make up a large percentage of WH’s work force and possess a critical
skill set that is in short supply in the electric utility industry. That is why
WH offers two scholarships for this trade. This scholarship is awarded in
memory of Ed Slebiska who co-founded WH in 1937 and became its first CEO,
holding that position until his retirement in 1977. During that time, Slebiska
helped lead the cooperative in bringing reliable and accessible electricity to
rural Wright County
and western Hennepin
County.

Elwyn and Hazel Knickerbocker Memorial Line Worker
Scholarship

Long-time
WH members Doris and Ron Horswell of Annandale, Minn., created this scholarship in 2005 to honor the
memory of Doris’ parents, Elwyn and Hazel
Knickerbocker, who played crucial roles in bringing electricity to rural homes
and farms in Wright and Hennepin counties. Elwyn served on WH’s board of
directors, representing District 1 – near Annandale,
Clearwater and Maple Lake
– for 53 years. At that time, he was the longest serving electric cooperative
director in the nation. Hazel was a tireless champion of rural electrification,
offering a clear voice of support during early efforts to organize the
cooperative.

Joshua Jerde, Buffalo, Minn.
received the Elwyn and Hazel Knickerbocker Memorial Line Worker Scholarship.
The Horswells personally presented the scholarship to Jerde at the banquet.

“We are
grateful to the entire Knickerbocker family for making this scholarship available
to WH’s program,” WH Board Chair Chris Lantto said.

WH has
gone on to hire a number of the Slebiska and Knickerbocker scholarship winners
after the recipients have completed line-worker training. A number of other WH employees
have been recipients of various WH scholarships over the years as well.“It’s turned into a great feeder system of local
talent,” Vogt said.

Basin Electric Scholarships

Basin Electric Power
Cooperative (Basin) – one of WH’s wholesale power suppliers – headquartered in Bismarck, N.D.,
annually awards a scholarship to its distribution cooperative members and to an
employee’s descendent. Andrew Zipp,
St. Michael, Minn.,
and Michelle Hansmann, Hamel,
Minn., each received a $1,000
scholarship from WH, courtesy of Basin. Andrew is the son of WH Accounting
Supervisor Scott Zipp and his wife Lisa.